George  Washington  Flowers 
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FAMILY  OF 

COLONEL  FLOWERS 


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I/,  2. 


BRIEF  STATEMENT  OF  FACTS, 

SHEWING  THE 

HISS],  FMO^HESS  AND  NECESSITY 

OF 

AFRICAN  COLONIZATION; 

ADDRESSED  TO  THOSE 

Citizens  of  tlie  State  of  Virginia, 

Who  may  not  have  correct  information  on  the  subject, — with  a  short 
Appeal  in  favour  of  the  cause. 


AGENT  OF  THE 

Virginia  Stat«  Colonization  Society. 


What  shall  be  done  with  our  free  colored  populaiion  ?  How  shall 
we  fairly  dispose  of  them,  and  of  such  of  our  slaves  as  may  hereafter, 
"under  the  laws  of  this  commonwealth,"  become  freef 

These  are  important  questions,  well  deserving  the  most  serious  at- 
tention of  ail  classes  of  the  community;  and  which  have,  in  fact,  en- 
gaged for  a  long  series  of  years,  the  thoughts  of  many  of  our  best 
and  greatest  men. 

The  evils  of  a  mixed  population,  under  which  we  now  labour,  were 
foreseen  as  early  as  1772.  In  that  year  the  House  of  Burgesses  of 
this  state,  inspired  with  a  just  abhorrence  of  the  slave  trade,  and  an 
almost  prophetic  foresight  of  the  scourge  it  would  entail  upon  their 
posterity,  unanimously  agreed  upon  an  address  to  the  king  of  Great 
Britain,  praying  him  "  to  remove  those  restraints  on  the  Governors 
of  the  colony  which  inhibited  them  from  assenting  to  such  laws  as 
might  check  so  very  pernicious  a  commerce." 

"  The  importation  of  slaves  into  the  colony,  from  the  Coast  of 
Africa,  has  long  been  considered  as  a  trade  of  great  inhumanity;  and 
under  its  encouragement,  we  have  too  much  reason  to  fear  will  endan- 
ger the  very  existence  of  your  Majesty^s  American  dominions. 

"  We  are  sensible  that  some  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, may  reap  emolument  from  this  sort  of  traffic;  but  when  we  con- 
sider that  it  greatly  retards  the  settlement  of  the  colonies  with  more 


2 


white  inhabitants,  and  m^y  in  time,  have  the  most  destructive  influence, 
we  presume  to  hope  that  the  interests  of  a  few  will  be  disregarded, 
when  placed  in  competition  vvilh  the  security  and  happiness  of  such 
numbers  of  your  Majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects." 

This  spirited  address,  although  prophetic  of  the  dangerous  conse- 
quences which  would  inevitably  ensue  from  a  blind  persistance  in  the 
most  nefarious  traffic  that  ever  disgraced  the  annals  of  man,  was  dis- 
regarded. The  trade  remained  unrestrained  until  the  declaration  of 
independence,  when  Virginia  and  some  other  states,  prohibited  it  alto- 
gether. 

Happy  would  it  have  been  for  us  and  our  children,  if  the  sound  sen- 
timents displayed  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  1772,  had  not  lost 
their  influence  in  1787,  when  the  federal  constitution  was  formed.  By 
that  instrument,  Congress  was  prohibited  from  passing  laws  to  prevent 
the  importation  of  slaves  for  twenty  years.  Tiiis  shows  the  liability 
of  man  to  error;  for  in  consequence  of  this  most  "  unfortunate  legi- 
timation of  the  slave  trade,  it  was  carried  on  for  tvjenty  years  upon  a 
large  scale,  and  has  sown  a  seed  which  has  germinated  with  fatal  fer- 
tility, and  threatens  a  dreadful  retribution." 

The  spirit  of  the  "  Burgesses"  of  1772,  however,  has  never  slept, 
though  for  a  while  it  certainly  slumbered. 

As  early  as  1777,  we  find  Thomas  Jefferson  turning  his  attention 
to  the  domestic  economy  of  his  country,  and  actually  forming  a  plan 
to  remove,  or  undermine  by  gradual  degrees  the  threatening  evil,  the 
portentous  cloud  of  future  collision. 

That  plan  was  colonization  ;  and  althoiigli  the  particulars  of  it  can- 
not now  be  given,  it  is  believed  that  he  contemplated  the  removal  of 
the  free  colored  population  of  the  country,  to  some  of  our  western 
vacant  lands.  Be  that,  however,  as  it  may,  the  project  failed,  owing 
doubtless,  in  part  to  the  distractions  and  difficulties  of  the  war  of  in- 
dependence, and  in  part,  to  the  novelty  and  magnitude  of  the  under- 
taking. 

Subsequent  events,  and  additional  light,  induce  the  belief,  that 
that  failure  should  not  be  regretted — leaving  out  of  the  question,  the 
probable  future  danger  of  such  an  establishment  within,  or  even  con- 
tiguous to  any  of  our  western  states  or  territorial  governments;  other 
considerations,  of  great  weight,  of  immense  interest,  induce  a  ready 
acquiescence  in  that  failure. 

To  Mr.  Jefferson  however,  justly  belongs  the  praise  of  first  moving 
in  the  cause  of  colonization,  as  the  only  practicable  and  fair  remedy  of 
rendering  equal  justice  to  all  concerned. 

Doctor  Thomas  Thornton,  in  1787,  adopting  Mr.  Jefferson's  idea 
of  colonization,  as  the  only  possible  mode  of  conferring  upon  the  free 
people  of  color,  all  the  blessings  of  freedom,  formed  a  plan  for  estab- 
lishing a  colony  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  and  published  an 
address  to  those  residing  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  inviting 
them  to  accompany  him  thither.  A  sufficient  number  of  them  agreed 
to  go,  and  were  prepared  for  the  expedition — but  this  project  failed 
for  want  of  the  necessary  funds. 

In  1800,  or  1801,  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  inheriting  a  portion 
01  iiie  spirit  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  1772,  and  being  deeply 


3 


impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  indispensable  necessity  of  seeking  some 
mode  of  relief,  from  the  growing  evils,  consequent  upon  the  rapid  in- 
crease of  r.er  colored  population,  determined,  in  secret  session,  to 
move  in  tiie  cause.  The  then  Governor  of  the  state,  Mr.  Monroe, 
was  instrucied  to  apply  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
"  urge  liini  to  ip.stilute  negotiations  with  some  of  the  European  pow- 
ers possessed  of  colonies  on  the  Coast  of  Africa,  to  grant  an  asylum 
to  which  our  emancipated  negroes  might  be  sent." 

Mr.  JeHerson  opened  a  negotiation  with  the  Sierra  Leone  Company 
of  London,  who  had  made  a  settlement  on  the  Western  Coast  of 
Africa,  but  without  success.  He  subsequently  applied  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Portugal,  but  in  vain.  His  negotiations  were  then  abandoned 
as  hopeless. 

In  1816  the  Legislature  took  up  the  subject  again — and  although 
the  lapse  of  fifteen  years  had  given  additional  difficulty  to  it — although 
the  evil  sought  to  be  remedied  had  taken  a  deeper  hold  in  the  soil,  and 
was  fast  sending  its  venomous  fangs  into  the  very  life's  blood  of  her 
health  and  prosperity,  so  far  from  looking  upon  this  as  an  argument 
for  passive  submission,  it  seems  to  have  inspired  her  with  additional 
ardour  and  renewed  zeal  in  the  cause. 

The  following  resolution,  which  was  passed  by  a  large  majority, 
shows  the  tone  of  her  legislative  feeling  upon  the  subject,  and  maybe 
considered  as  a  good  earnest  of  what  it  will  do,  when  the  sovereign 
people  move  in  the  cause. 

"  Whereas,  The  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  have  repeatedly 
sought  to  obtain  an  asylum,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States, 
for  such  persons  of  color  as  had  been,  or  might  be  emancipated  under 
the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  but  have  hitherto  found  all  their  ef- 
forts frustrated,  either  by  the  disturbed  state  of  other  nations,  or  do- 
mestic causes  equally  unpropitious  to  its  success  :  they  now  avail 
themselves  of  a  period,  when  peace  has  healed  the  wounds  of  hu- 
manity, and  the  principal  nations  of  Europe  have  concurred  with  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  in  abolishing  the  African  Slave 
Trade,  (a  traffic  winch  this  Commonwealth,  both  before  and  since  the 
revolution,  zealously  sought  to  terminate)  to  renew  this  effi)rt : — 

And  do  therefore  Resolve,  That  tlie  Executive  be  requested  to  cor- 
respond with  the  President  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  a  territory  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  or  at  some  other  place, 
not  within  any  of  the  States,  or  territorial  governments  of  the  United 
States,  to  serve  as  an  asylum  for  such  persons  of  color  as  are  now 
free,  and  may  desire  the  same,  and  for  those  who  may  hereafter  be 
emancipated  within  this  Commonwealth — and  that  the  Senators  and 
Representatives  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  be  requested 
to  exert  their  best  effi^rts  to  aid  the  President  of  the  United  States  in 
the  attainment  of  the  above  objects — provided  that  no  contract  or 
arrangement  for  such  territory  shall  be  obligatory  on  this  Common- 
wealth, until  ratified  by  the  Legislature." 

By  one  of  those  remarkable  coincidences  which  so  strongly  indi- 
cate a  superior  presiding  intelligence,  whose  purposes  of  benevolence 
are  commensurate  with  the  wants  and  the  miseries  of  the  world,  it  so 
happened,  that  in  December  1816,  a  considerable  number  of  citizens 


4 


from  different  States,  having  had  their  attention  drawn  to  the  subject 
by  the  untiring  exertions  of  the  late  Rev'd.  Doctor  Findly  of  New 
Jersey,  and  other  gentlemen  of  high  distinction,  met  in  the  city  of 
Washington  to  take  into  consideration  the  practicabihty  of  the  plan, 
which  had  been  so  frequently  and  ardently  recommended  hy  Vir- 
ginia. A  meeting  was  organized  by  calling  the  Flon.  Bushrod 
Washington  to  the  Chair. — Long^  earnest  and  eloquent  debates  en- 
sued.— Henry  Clay,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  and  other  powerful 
orators  addressed  the  meeting  in  favor  of  the  plan — and  it  is  worthy 
of  remark,  that  the  last  named  gentleman,  under  the  inspiring  influ- 
ence of  his  own  eloquence,  or  enraptured  with  the  prospect  of  the 
great  amount  of  good  that  the  cause,  successfully  prosecuted,  would 
confer  both  upon  his  country,  and  the  colored  population  thereof, 
said,  "if  a  place  could  be  provided  for  their  reception,  and  a  mode 
of  sending  them  hence,  there  were  hundreds,  nay  thousands,  who 
would  by  manumitting  their  slaves,  relieve  themselves  from  the  cares 
attendant  on  their  possession."  At  this  meeting,  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Jefferson,  dated  in  1811,  was  read,  in  which,  having  mentioned  his 
negotiations  with  Sierra  Leone  and  Portugal,  he  adds,  "indeed  no- 
thing is  more  desirable  than  that  the  United  States  would  themselves 
undertake  to  make  such  an  establishment  on  the  coast  of  Africa." 

A  Society,  patronized  by  distinguished  citizens  from  many  States 
was  then  formed,  and  was  called 

"  The  American  Colonization  Society,  for  colonizing  with  their 
own  consent,  the  free  people  of  color  of  the  United  States,  upon  the 
Western  Coast  of  Africa." 

The  Hon.  Bushrod  Washington  was  appointed  President ;— and 
Messrs.  Crawford,  Clay,  Rutgers,  Howard  and  others,  Vice-Presi- 
dents. 

So  much  for  the  rise  of  this  truly  important  Institution. 

ITS  PROGRESS. 

Owing  to  the  want  of  funds,  and  the  necessity  of  precautionary 
movements  in  a  cause  so  great,  upon  which  was  deemed  to  hang  the 
uliimate  prosperity  of  the  country,  the  experiment  of  its  practicability 
'was  not  fairly  made  until  1821  and  '22. 

Great  doubts  were  entertained  by  multitudes  of  the  possibility  of 
acquiring  a  suitable  territory  in  Africa, — others  doubted  whether  the 
free  blacks  wou\d  ever  consent  to  go ;  and  others  again,  and  they  formed 
a  large  class,  turned  the  whole  scheme  into  ridicule,  and  called  its 
warmest  advocates  Utopians — amiable  entiiusiasts,  and  quixotic  ad- 
venturers. 

But  how  stands  the  case  now? 

From  1821  to  1831,  a  period  of  ten  years,  the  Society  has  pur- 
chased a  territory  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  extending  coast- 
wise 280  miles,  and  running  high  up  into  the  interior. 

The  territory  at  present  under  the  actual  jurisdiction  of  the  Society, 
extends  from  Grand  Cape  Mount  to  Trade  Town,  a  distance  of  150 
miles. — It  abounds  with  the  richest  varieties  of  flesh,  fish,  and  fowl — 
and  greater  varieties  of  fruits  and  vegetables  than  are  found  in  the 
most  favored  West-India  Islands. 


6 


The  Colonists,  in  their  address  to  their  brethren  in  the  United 
States,  say,  more  fertile  soil,  and  a  more  productive  country,  so 
far  as  it  is  cultivated,  there  is  not  we  believe  on  the  face  of  the  earth" 
— "  sugar—cotton— coffee  and  indigo  grow  wild." 

The  climate  is  so  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  healtli  of  emigrrints 
from  our  Middle  and  Southern  States,  that  not  more  than  one  in  forty^ 
have  died  in  FIVE  YEARS,  from  change  of  climate. 

The  territoiy  is  called  Liberia— and  the  principal  town,  or  capital, 
udiich  is  located  in  about  the  6th  degree  of  North  latitude,  upon 
Cape  Montserado,  is  called,  after  the  late  President  Monroe,  Mon- 
rovia. 

The  entire  population  of  the  colony  is  rising  two  thousand. — Mon- 
rovia contains  the  largest  number — all  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty, — 
and  advancing  with  unexampled  rapidity  in  knowledge,  industry, 
agriculture,  commerce,  the  mechanic  arts,  sobriety,  and  religion. 

Foreigners — and  our  own  citizens,  and  commanders  of  our  national 
ships,  who  have  visited  Monrovia,  speak  and  w  rite  of  it  as  presenting 
one  of  the  most  interesting  spectacles  they  have  ever  beheld — the 
order — sobriety — -industry  and  application  to  business,  shewn  by  its 
citizens,  is  probabh^  unexampled,  in  the  history  of  colonies. 

Thus  has  the  Society  demonstrated,  first,  the  practicability  of  se- 
curing a  suitable  territory  in  Africa — and  second,  the  practicability  of 
making  a  settlement  of  voluntary  emigrants. 

And  tliose  emigrants,  whose  faculties  while  the}^  were  in  this  coun- 
try were  actually  benumbed  by  reason  ,of  the  necessary  political,  and 
other  disabilities  with  which  they  were  oppressed,  have  manifested  a 
capability  of  expansion  of  intellect,  and  of  moral  culture,  which  most 
forcibly  demonstrates  their  relationship  to  the  great  mass  of  mankind. 

The  Legislatures  of  fifteen  States  have  passed  resolutions  approv- 
ing the  objects  of  the  Institution,  and  the  Legislature  of  Maryland, 
in  1831,  appropriated  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  aid  such  of  her 
free  colored  population  as  might  choose  to  emigrate  to  Liberia,  or 
elsewhere. 

There  are  seventeen  State  Societies,  Auxiliary  to  the  Parent  Insti- 
tution at  Washington,  and  more  than  two  hundred  Auxiliary  to  these. 

So  much  for  the  rise  and  progress  of  this  cause  to  the  present  time. 

The  necessity  of  increasinfr  and  untiring  exertions,  upon  a  more  en- 
larged scale  is,  or  ought  to  be  obvious  to  all  reflecting  persons. 

Considered  as  a  mere  matter  of  State  policy,  it  is  an  undertaking 
of  unexampled  importance.  What  congeniality  of  feeling,  of  design 
and  of  interest  is  there  between  the  free  colored  population  and  the 
whites  ?  None — no,  not  the  smallest.  Is  not  this  made  as  clear  as 
day,  by  the  character  of  our  police  regulations?  But  some  may  say 
these  very  regulations  have  produced  the  unfriendly  tone  of  feeling 
and  conduct  which  exist  in  that  part  of  our  population.  But  this  is 
not  true.  The  cause  of  that  feeling  is  of  more  ancient  date  and  of 
deeper  dye  than  any  legislative  enactments.  It  is  found  in  the  North 
as  well  as  in  the  South,  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West.  It  is  in 
their  color.  They  know  it — they  feel  it.  It  is  that  which  presents 
an  eternal  barrier  to  any  thing  like  cordiality  of  feeling  and  unity  of 
interest,  while  they  remain  among  us. 


6 


The  mournful  issue  of  the  recent  occurrences  in  this  Common- 
wealth, speaks  volumes  in  favor  of  the  cause.  And  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  this  State  contains  more  than  one-fiftJi  of  the  entire 
colored  population  of  the  United  States,  between  whom  and  ourselves 
nothing  like  perfect  cordiality  can  ever  exist,  surely  every  man  will 
feel  himself  bound  zealously  to  aid  in  gradually  removing  those  who 
are  now  free,  and  such  as  may  hereafter  becoQie  free. 

But  the  benevolent  purpose  of  the  schem.e  is  not  limited  to  the  con- 
fines of  one  continent,  nor  to  the  prosperity  of  a  solitary  race.  For 
while  it  will,  under  suitable  patronage,  gradually  remove  from  our 
own  borders  a  growing  evil,  it  promises  to  Africa  the  ultimate  pay- 
ment of  a  debt  so  long  due  to  her.  A  debt  in  men,  money  and 
morals. 

It  has  already  effected  a.greater  amount  of  good  in  arresting  and 
putting  down  the  slave  trade  from  Grand  Cape  Mount  to  Trade  Town, 
embracing  a  coast  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  than  ten 
limes  the  value  of  the  money  which  has  been  expended  in  the  pur- 
chase  of  the  territory,  and  in  the  transportation  thither  of  more  than 
two  thousand  emigrants. 

A  beacon  fire  is  now  kindled  at  Monrovia, — and  from  the  lofty  cape 
of  Montserado,  a  broad  blaze  of  light  is  shining  forth  into  the  darkest 
recesses  of  Africa.  Already  have  her  children  sprung  into  new  life, 
and  disdaining  their  former  mode  of  living,  are  earnestly  pressing  for 
liberty  to  become  fellow  citizens  with  our  liberated  slaves.  Turning 
away  with  disgust  and  horror  from  the  traffic  in  each  others  blood,  to 
which  they  were  reduced  by  a  necessity  entailed  upon  them  by  the 
agency  of  our  own  color,  they  are  now  cultivating  their  own  rich  soil, 
dressing  and  pruning  their  own  luxuriant  palm  trees,  and  bearing  to 
Monrovia,  to  Millsburg  and  to  Caldwell  the  fruits  of  their  honest  in- 
dustry, for  barter  and  trade.  Gradually  losing  their  relish  for  savage 
life,  their  children  are  learning  in  the  schools  of  the  colony,  the  lan- 
guage, the  customs,  the  mechanic  arts  and  tiie  religion  of  our  eman- 
cipated slaves,  w  ho  in  their  turn,  are  laying  the  foundation  for  an  em- 
pire of  repuhlicsj  breathing  the  spirit  of  our  own  happy  institutions. 

The  plan  opens  to  the  patriotic  a  large  field  of  glorious  action.  It 
cheers  the  heart  of  the  philanthropist,  and  furnishes  to  the  christian 
philosopher  another  developement  of  those  mysterious  plans  of  Divine 
Providence,  by  which  he  wiil  effect  all  the  purposes  of  his  unlimited 
benevolence,  and  bring  order  out  of  disorder,  and  everlasting  good 
out  of  temporary  evil. 

Now  is  the  time  for  action — -the  work  can  be  done.  Away  then 
with  all  cold  hearted  calculations  of  cost  and  of  difficulty.  Had  the 
fathers  of  our  revolution  reasoned  thus,  where  would  we,  their  chil- 
dren, now  be?  Either  contending  single  handed  with  the  despotism 
of  Europe  for  liberty,  or  with  our  high  faculties  benumbed,  delighting 
ourselves  with  the  favours  of  royalty,  and  dancing  to  the  rattling  of 
our  chains.  But  they  reasoned  not  thus—they  saw  the  prize,  and 
said  we  wiil  secure  it  for  ourselves  and  for  our  children,  cost  what  it 
may. 

it  is  readily  granted,  that  voluntary  coiitributions  alone  will  not  be 
sufficient  to  carry  on  the  cause  as  rapidly  as  it  ought  now  to  advance. 


7 

Much,  even  more  than  was  expected  by  its  warmest  friends,  has  been 
done  by  private  aid.  Id  demonstrating  the  practicability  of  securing 
a'sufiicient  territory  in  Africa — -in  planting  a  colony  oi  voluntary  emi- 
grants— in  making  it  plain  to  the  free  blacks  diemselves,  that  it  is  their 
highest  interest  to  emigrate,  that  by  so  doing  they  will  advance  and 
establish  upon  an  imrnovenhh  basis  the  independence  and  happiness  of 
their  color;  the  Society  has  vanquished  all  the  original  difficulties 
which  were  thrown  in  the  way,  and  have  earned  tor  the  cause  the  right 
to  claim  all  that  aid  which  it  now  needs  and  seeks  from  those  states 
who  are  more  immediately  interested  in  its  complete  success. 

The  wa}-  for  state  legislative  action  and  aid  is  now  fairly  opened. 
-Maryland  has  availed  herself  of  the  opportunity-,  and  with  a  liberality 
worthy  of  universal  imitation,  has  appropriated  t«o  hundred  thousand 
dollars  to  be  expended  in  aid  of  such  of  her  free  colored  population 
as  may  choose  to  emigrate.  " 

,  And  will  not  Virginia,  whose  House  of  Burgesses  of  17  72,  foresaw 
and  endeavored  by  a  spirited  address  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain  to 
prevent  the  evil,  noiv  Xa.ke  up  the  cause?  Will  not  T^irginia,  whose 
Jefferson  in  1777,  originated  the  plan  of  colonization,  and  whose  le- 
gislature in  ISOl,  and  again  in  1816,  pressed  it  upon  the  general  go- 
vernment with  an  ardour  and  a  zeal  shewins:  the  maErnitude  of  the 
cause,  now  arise  and  give  to  it  the  aid  it  seeks  ?  She  stands  commit- 
ted upon  the  question,  and  nothing^  now  wanted  but  the  united  ac- 
tion of  the  people — their  voice  is  with  her  legislature,  an  authority  of 
resistless  force. 

Let  the  people  then  in  all  the  counties  of  the  state  form  themselves 
into  societies,  auxiliary  to  the  Virginia  State  Society  at  Richmond, 
and  let  those  societies  instruct  their  delegates  and  senators,  and  me- 
morialize the  legislature,  and  the  cause  will  prevail. 

The  state  contains  something  less  than  forty-eight  thousand  free 
colored  persons.  Many  of  them  are  panting  for  an  opportunity  to 
become  citizens  of  Liberia.  Let  the  State  but  favor  the  cause  with 
a  liberal  appropriation  for  ten  successive  years,  and  such  changes  will 
take  place  in  all  the  various  departments  of  our  domestic  economy  as 
will  surprizp.  and  delight  every  man,  and  will  doubtless  lead  succeeding 
generations  to  continue  the  plan  until  every  object  uf  the  warmest 
philanthropist  will  be  fully  realized. 

Although  the  object  of  the  Society  is  the  removal  only  of  such  as 
are  now  free,  and  of  such  as  may  hereafter  become  fi-ee,  it  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  remark  here,  that,  should  it  ever  be  the  pleasure  of  the 
people  to  agree  to  give  up  their  slaves,  or  their  increase,  they  could 
not  do  so  if  this  Society  should  become  extinct.  They  could  not  do 
so,  if  the  cause  of  colonization  be  even  now  suffered  to  languish. 

Should  it  ever  be  made  plain  to  the  citizens  by  their  own  experience 
or  observation,  that  they  could  do  much  better  icithout  them  than  they 
are  now  doing  luith  them,  they  would  nevertheless  be  obliged  to  keep 
them,  or  send  them  to  Liberia. 

It  is  in  this  way,  and  in  this  way  only,  that  colonization  societies, 
both  in  the  north  and  in  the  south,  touch  the  delicate  question  of 
slavery. 

The  Parent  Society  at  Washington,  with  the  aid  of  its  auxiliaries, 


8 


has  prepared  an  asylum  for  all  that  are  now  free^  and  for  such  as  may 
hereafter  be  made  free.  It  has,  in  a  word,  fully  accomplished  the  ob- 
jects of  the  resolution  of  the  legislature  of  1816. 

In  the  hope  that  many  who  may  rend  this  "  brief  statement,"  may 
be  disposed  to  become  active  friends  of  the  cause,  the  writer  has  ad- 
ded the  form  of  a  Consiilution  for  an  Auxiliary  Society. 

Norfolk,  Va.,  Sept.  20,  1832. 


FORM  OF  A  CONSTITUTION  FOR  AN  AUXILIARY 

SOCIETY. 

Article  1. — This  Society  shall  be  called  the 
Colonization  Society,  and  shall  be  auxiliary  to  the  objects  of  the  Vir- 
ginia State  Colonization  Society  at  Richmond. 

Article  2. — The  object  to  which  it  shall  be  exclusively  directed,  shall 
be  lo  aid  the  parent  institution  at  Richmond  in  the  colonization  of  the 
free  colored  people  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  with  their  own  consent, 
on  the  coast  of  Africa. 

Article  3. — An  annual  subscription  of  one  dollar  or  upwards,  shall 
constitute  an  individual  a  member  of  the  society,  and  the  payment  at 
any  one  time  of  dollars,  a  member  for  life. 

Article  4. — The  officers  of  tl^**Society  shall  be  President, 
Vice  President,  Managers, -a  Secretary  and 

Tr-'-asur'^r.  to  be  elected  at  th'^^  annual  meeting  cf  the  society,  -by  ttfie 
members  thereof. 

Article  5. — The  President,  Vice  President,  Secretary  and  Treasu- 
rer shall  be  ex-officio  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers. 

Article  6. — The  Board  of  Managers  shall  transact  the  business  of 
the  Society,  and  fill  all  vacancies  in  their  number,  shall 
constitute  a  quorum. 

Article  7. — The  Treasurer  shall  keep  the  accounts  and  take  charge, 
subject  to  the  order  and  regulations  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  of 
the  funds  of  the  Society. 

Article  8. — The  Secretary  shall  keep  records  of  the  proceedings, 
the  names  of  members  and  amount  of  subscriptions,  and  conduct  the 
correspondence  of  the  Society. 

Article  9. — The  President,  or  in  his  absence  the  Vice  President,  or 
in  his  absence  any  tliree  of  the  Managers  may  call  a  meeting  of  the 
Society. 

Article  10.--  The  Society  may  elect  a  delegate  to  attend  the  annual 
meeting  in  January  of  the  Parent  Society  iit  Richmond. 

Article  11. — The  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  shall  he  held  on 
the  day  of  in  or  at 


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Date  Due 







Form  335.    25M— 7-38— S 


L  

325.373    A326    V.2  nos.1-7 

342888 


